It's been an incredible year across the National Park System and for the National Parks Traveler, and for that I thank our readers, listeners, and incredible contributors.

We entered 2021 with the Covid pandemic ... and we ended the year with the Covid pandemic. Sociologists will have to discern whether it was solely the pandemic or some other factor that motivated millions of people to head into the park system this past year. Visitation records were set from coast to coast, and when the National Park Service finalizes its 2021 visitation tally, it surely will show a robust rebound from 2020.

Thanks to all the readers, contributors, and sponsors who made Traveler's 2021 coverage of national parks and protected areas possible -- Kurt Repanshek, editor-in-chief

You, Traveler's readers and listeners, demonstrated a deep interest in what's going on in the National Park System. Between our flagship website and our Apple News feed, the Traveler's content received more than 3.5 million views this year, and our podcast episodes were downloaded more than 143,650 times, a number that placed the podcast in the top 2 percent of the world's 2.75 million active podcasts, according to industry monitor Listen Note.

Tomorrow we'll look back at the top stories for 2021, but our reader analytics show a wide interest in park issues, from wildlife confrontations and misbehaving visitors to RVing and climate change impacts.

A talented corps of writers, journalists, broadcasters, and travelers with wanderlust brought these stories to you. Regular contributors Jennifer Bain, Rita Beamish, Patrick Cone, Barbara Jensen, Jonathan Horwitz, Rebecca Latson, John Miles, Kim O'Connell, Jess Repanshek, Lynn Riddick, Lori Sonken, Gary Vogt worked to present and explain these issues to you. And there were spot appearances by storytellers Danny Bernstein, Eric Jay Toll, Darcy Rhyno, Bob Pahre, Fred Swanson, Carol Patterson, Caroline Rogers, and Michael Sparks.

Helping to make their 2021 assignments possible, in addition to the many reader and listener donations, was support from the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, Cardno, Friends of Acadia, Grand Teton National Park Foundation, Interior Federal Credit Union, North Cascades Institute, the Potrero Group, Washington's National Park Fund, Western National Parks Association, Wild Tribute, and the Yosemite Conservancy.

And, of course, thanks to the numerous National Park Service personnel who patiently answered all of our questions.

The coming year surely will continue to be busy in the National Park System, and will no doubt present myriad issues to bring to the Traveler. With your continued support, and with the continued hard work of our contributors, it promises to be an interesting year. 

See you in the parks!